The blog contains articles by the author which appear in various newspapers in Kashmir and are also available on the website: www.kashmirfirst.com

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

The Political “Leeches” of Kashmir!

(Some politicians have been
virtually acting as leeches,stuck to the body of
“Kashmir”, sucking every drop of its blood and attaching to it again and again
even when thrown away!)

“Mainstream” is a very commonly used word in Kashmir
these days. It is generally applied to the politicians advocating and
supporting Kashmir’s relationship with India. When one talks of streams, the first
impression is about the geographical streams. Kashmir’s mainstream is the River
Jhelum which flows south and after traversing Pakistan drops into the Arabian
Sea! Kashmir’s entire history is woven around this River locally called Wyeth
or Jhelum. In ancient times in Sanskrit it was known as Vitasta. Most of the
time it used to have clean and pure water but due to “advancement” of the
civilisation, it has become most dirty and polluted! There was a time when one
could drink the pure water of Jhelum and there used to be lot of fish in it. In
fact, downstream in Sopore and Baramulla area the famous Mahaseer fish was in
abundance! These days we have mostly polluted water which is not fit even for washing
not to speak of drinking!

Right from 1947, the Kashmir’s Rivers
including the geological “Mainstream”, Jhelum, have been carrying all along
their course the blood of martyrs. People have given their blood to attain
their aspirations of a free Kashmir where they could stand with self-respect
and dignity. On the other hand the so called political “Mainstream” has been a
two way channel for muck and dirt of all kinds. This stream has given rise
to what one could call the “Political Leeches”! As mentioned, unfortunately,
the real geographical mainstream too has become murky due to all the waste and
filth dumped into it by the people residing on its banks! Even the water bodies
which were once a sight to behold have been dirtied and in some cases, totally
filled up due the insatiable greed of the people for material things. This is
in contrast to centuries old spiritual values because of which Kashmir has
often been called the “Resh-e-Woer”, (the bowl of saints)! The pollution process
has been presided over by these “Leeches” of the “Political Mainstream” all
these years! Forget the Political Autonomy; they have not virtually done anything
worthwhile to save the River and the water bodies!

According to
Wikipedia, “Leeches are segmented worms which feed on vertebrate blood and most
of the species live in freshwater environment. Leeches have been historically
used in medicine to remove blood from patients. The practice of leeching can be traced to ancient India and
Greece, and continued well into the 18th and 19th centuries in both Europe and
North America”. In Kashmir, traditionally, it used to be the barbers who used to
carry the leeches to draw blood from people desirous of doing so to cure
certain ailments especially high blood pressure. Drawing of blood by leeches
used to be a popular treatment for many other ailments. Politically, Kashmiris
have faced for last 70 years or so two “Barbers” on two sides of the border who
have been continuously drawing their blood through some “Political Leeches”
owned or patronised by them not to help Kashmiris but rather to nourish and
cure their own ailments!

The greatest
misfortune of Kashmiris is that they easily offer themselves for all sorts of
exploitation. Instead of taking a stand based on certain principles they follow
like a herd of sheep every shepherd even though he may have misled them many
times in the past. The story of last seventy years is a typical example of this
behaviour. As some foreign authors have observed, the Kashmiris seems to have
evolved a philosophy of survival. If you can’t beat them, join them but only
for survival and not for the sake of any principles. What they want in reality,
they keep it hidden in their hearts and when any opportunity shows up where the
resolve of the oppressor appears weakening, they burst out with vengeance!

The tragedy of the
present times is that the very political leaders who did everything in their
hands to weaken whatever autonomy or independence the State had for their own
selfish and short term goals are now crying hoarse for its restoration. There
cannot be anything more hypocritical than that! On the other hand, the others
who painted some alluring and beautiful utopian dreams of a free and a
self-ruled Kashmir are making every possible effort to remove any traces of the
autonomy left unintentionally by over sight. The misfortune is that the
gullible people would again be taken for a ride by these virtual “Political
Leeches”! However, the only light at the end of the tunnel is the new
generation which refuses to budge and is determined to reach the goal of
ultimate salvation. So if peace is to return to Kashmir, it is this generation
which needs to be approached and spoken to in a totally free atmosphere without
any allurement or fear. How can that be done and who can do that is a million
dollar question!